I’m happy to be participating in this linkup from Like Mother, Like Daughter. The window above my kitchen sink looks into our livingroom. I’ve always wanted a kitchen with a window above the sink that looks out into the yard or across the street or onto a meadow of wildflowers would be ok too, but I’ve learned to appreciate this window since it allows me to peek in on my babies as they play or fight or poke their brother’s eyes. Way better than wildflowers.
I don’t usually do much on this windowsill. I set a bud vase here (occasionally with a “bud”) and a bottle of lotion, but it mostly tends to be the place to dry little things I’ve rinsed or where dirty dishes coming out of Phil’s office await my notice. But during this season, I always try to make it pretty, to brighten up my dish washing! Maybe now I’ll work harder at making this space “prettier”.
The windowsill has always been the perfect place for this candle display my mom gave to me years ago. It’s been dinged up and scratched from my many moves, but I still like putting it out and watching the candles flicker behind the cutouts.
I really enjoyed this post about good “flow” in the kitchen. I’m always trying to come up with ways to “streamline” all the work I do around the house and be more efficient. Several times I’ve moved dishes and appliances around looking for the best places for them. I’m good at keeping my coffee cups above my coffee maker, that just makes sense to me and recently I started to consider my cabinets being used for items besides dishes. I use one for spices and now for baking needs (all in one convenient place) and snacks for the babies.
But I’ve never considered the flow of clean and dirty dishes. I believe the system I currently have is pretty good. I think it just comes naturally to the space. Dirties congregate in and on the right side of the sink. They are rinsed, then placed in the dishwasher which is also on the right side of the sink. If they are hand washed they land in the left part of the sink. Clean dishes come out of the dishwasher then directly above it and beside it into the cabinets.
I would love to see where and how others dry and store their baby bottles and sippy cups! Mine are tending to take over one of the corners of my counter, spilling forth like Manifest Destiny. Please tell me there’s a better way to do this! And I have a whole cabinet devoted to children’s plates and cups, three shelves! I think of getting rid of some at times, then find myself scrounging around for a clean one by the afternoon since the girls carry them off to places unknown throughout the day. Oh well, someday I suppose I’ll have more room in my kitchen than I know what to do with.
Love the realities of home. 🙂 Your windowsill is pretty. I thought I’d comment on the sippy cup/bottle thing. I do not currently have a dishwasher and what I find the most compact are bottle drying racks. I have twin boys and there were LOTS of bottles when they were infants so I used two but I still felt like that took up less space and that they dried a bit more quickly.
Have a great day!
Becky
Oh, I should also mention that I keep a minimal supply of bottles, nipples, sippy cups. I try and keep matching sets of sippy’s that will allow the lids to be interchangable. It just helps keep me sane. I use glass bottles which are pretty inexpensive and I bought 2 packs of 3 (evenflow).
This is one setup I didn’t think of — the kitchen sink looking out over another room — but it is very nice. You are able to survey all you preside over 😉
Very pretty arrangements, and good on you for the flow of the things used in the kitchen. I think I used to keep the baby things in a deep drawer or basket, but as I recall there isn’t a super great way to deal with those things. They are like plastic containers only without the nestling part. Good luck!
yes, yes, I know the issues with sippy cups… I sometimes have to “pay” my older children in chocolate for a sippy cup round-up! But, I just wash mine in the dishwasher…. I have no experience with bottles but maybe one of those little racks from the babycenter would help keep them organized-looking until they get put away.
Thanks for sharing your “window” I agree that you have a great view–your family!
very pretty!
I don’t have that many sippy cups or bottles- but stacking them into some kind of tub would keep them from spilling about
We bought a bottle drying rack from Toys r Us. It’s sort of a peg board, maybe 5″x12″ with tall and short pegs for holding the bottle bits. There’s also a product called Grass made by Boon that I would really love, but it’s almost $30, which seems like too much when I already have a drying rack. The Grass tray seems more versatile and easier to keep clean than the rack I have. Thanks for the post!
What a pretty counter top! It is wonderful to have that view to watch little ones while working (I have a somewhat similar layout.) I don’t know if this would work for you or not but my solution to sippies was to throw them all in a dish pan and cleared a cabinet spot for it to live. This prevented them from falling all over in the drawers.
Your holiday display looks lovely! I’m not sure what to do with the sippy cups! My children lost them so quickly I never had many to deal with!
Lovely! I am past the sippy cup stage with my kids, but I always had that problem too.
What a warm and friendly look your windowsill has! It’s great to be able to keep an eye on whatever’s going on in the living room.
I love the windowsill and the way the rest of your kitchen looks. It’s really nice!
I love the windowsill! I keep sippys in a deep basket in a cabinet, but I pared down to just one brand and a rule that we only drink while sitting, so no missing cups. I have also been known to use baby jars as cups at the table, much to the rolling eyes of my husband!
Wow! Thank you all for your kind comments and great suggestions!
I don’t have a solution for the sippy cups – I wish that I did! They do seem to over-run the kitchen, don’t they!
Your sink is so *clean*!!! It’s lovely!
I, too, enjoy a sink that looks outside, and have one now. However, there have been homes in the past that didn’t and if you can’t look outside I think that being able to watch over your little ones is just perfect! A beautiful sight, to be sure. 🙂
Lovely! Love the view of your Christmas tree. I don’t have a solution for the sippy cups other than we use only 3 and I just keep them up with our glass cups.
Linking up from Like Mother, Like Daughter.
Have a lovely week, Tamara
Isn’t it nice to have burning candles near you when you work? I think they soften moods.
For kid dishes and sippy cups, we done different things depending on our kitchen. In one, we had a deep and wide drawer. In another I put a large basket on the floor of the pantry. My current kitchen has very little storage space, so I took a small dresser with three drawers and put it along the wall (big kitchen, few cabinets). Two of the drawers are kid dishes, the top drawer is potatoes and onions, and a basket on top holds bread and bagels. I know it’s frustrating to hunt for dishes, but we rarely let our tots get a new cup without presenting the old one. This means we don’t need nearly as many.
Candlelight makes everything better! Such a great thing for these cold winter months. That’s a nice idea to use a dresser for storing these things. I’ve been wanting some sort of wooden drawer for potatoes and onions. Right now I use a cardboard box in the pantry, not the prettiest solution.